InterConnections Tipsheet

As part of a UUA-wide effort to make it possible for more youth and young adults to attend the “Justice” General Assembly this June in Phoenix, the UUA’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and the General Assembly Planning Committee have launched the “GA Accessibility Project.”

Congregations interested in learning how to bring more youth and young adults to GA this year can find information on the Youth and Young Adult Ministries blog, Blue Boat. That information includes GA program listings, how the GA youth and young adult caucuses operate, available scholarships and grants, as well as information on affordable housing and transportation.

Later this winter the accessibility resources will include information on fundraising and youth safety.

Congregational leaders who cannot attend General Assembly this June have until April 15 to sign up to participate from home as GA delegates as part of a new test to make the UUA’s annual business meeting more easily accessible.

The GA 2011 off-site trial allows delegates to watch live, streaming video of plenary (business) sessions from wherever they live or work, then queue up to speak and vote.

Applications for Off-site Delegate status can be submitted online from March 1 to April 15, 2011. Off-site delegates will need to confirm they are indeed certified delegates for their congregations, check technical requirements using an online video, participate in training and a test run prior to GA, and pay a nominal registration fee.

For information about requirements, the application process, and selection criteria, visit www.uua.org/offsitega.

The trial will include lay, ministerial, and religious educator delegates in order to reflect the whole potential delegate pool, with special care to include those who have historically been unable to attend in person.

InterConnections is not the only source of useful information for lay leaders. Check out uuworld.org for articles about UUA changes and congregational activities. Sign up for a weekly email about new articles on uuworld.org.

• Standing on the Side of Love, the UUA’s antioppression campaign, celebrates first year. 7.26.10
• Service trips help revitalize the UU Church West in Brookfield, Wis.  8.16.10
• Celebration marks 20th anniversary of partner church movement. 8.23.10
• New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss. UU churches alive and still struggling five years after Hurricane Katrina. 8.30.10
• UU congregations work for immigrant justice in communities across the country. 9.6.10
• Summer tour for young adults, sponsored by the UU Legislative Ministry California, focuses on water issues. 9.13.10
• How General Assembly became one of the most environmentally responsible parts of the UUA. 10.4.10
• The Rev. Ron Robinson’s missional ministry is focused on service, rather than Sunday worship, at Turley, Oklahoma.  10.11.10

The top-selling books at General Assembly 2010 in June, in order of sales, were the following, says Rose Hanig, director of the UUA Bookstore.

House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-First Century, by the Revs. John Buehrens and Rebecca Parker. Necessity of Virtue, by Nancy Sherman. Serving with Grace: Lay Leadership as a Spiritual Practice, by the Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom.

Story, Song, and Spirit: Fun and Creative Worship Services for All Ages, the Rev. Erika Hewitt. People So Bold, Theology and Ministry for Unitarian Universalists, by the Rev. John Gibb Millspaugh. All Our Relations, Winona LaDuke

The Growing Church: Keys to Congregational Vitality, edited by the Rev. Thom Belote. Information from a conference of leaders of growing UU congregations.

Bless All Who Serve: Sources of Hope, Courage, and Faith for Military Personnel and their Families, by the Rev. Matthew and Gail Tittle. Cathedral of the World, the Rev. Dr. Forest Church. Stone Blessings: a Meditation Anthology, the Rev. Robert Walsh. Sunday and Every Day: My Little Book of Unitarian Universalism, by Patricia Frevert (for children).

All except Necessity of Virtue and All Our Relations continue to be available at the UUA Bookstore.

Couldn’t get to General Assembly in June in Minneapolis? Or couldn’t attend all the sessions you wanted to? CDs of most workshops and other events at GA can be ordered here. Prices are $10 for an MP3 download and $12 for a CD. Longer descriptions of each program, including names of presenters, can be found here.

Last-minute information about General Assembly 2010, to be held June 23–27 in Minneapolis, can be found here. It includes information about the GA schedule, business agenda, the convention center, nearby restaurants, public transportation options, and travel from the airport.

Follow GA on Twitter and Facebook. UU World’s GA Blog will follow developments in GA business, social justice, and other issues daily.

For information on how your congregation can watch GA events live at home, read this InterConnections article.

Registration fees for attending General Assembly, June 23–27 in Minneapolis, go up on May 1. Before that, adult registration is $310 and youth registration is $185. Costs increase to $355 and $210, respectively, as of May 1.

The 88-member Bismarck-Mandan UU Fellowship and Church, Bismarck, North Dakota, is sending 14 people to GA. The congregation is paying full registration fees for all of them.

President Janis Cheney said the congregation is growing and leaders recognized that the Minneapolis GA, just a few hours down I-94, presented a not-to-be-missed opportunity to expose members to a large gathering of UUs and to bring home information about welcoming, leadership, and other topics.

Members who had been to previous GAs held information sessions after church. Those who indicated interest were asked to attend one or two pre-GA meetings to review the agenda and also participate in post-GA sessions including one or more Sunday service presentations.

“Our board considers this an unparalleled opportunity for making connections and growing in understanding of our faith tradition,” said Cheney. “We hope it will be an energizing and inspiring experience that will translate into greater engagement and development for those who attend and through them, for our entire congregation.”

April 20, 2010, is the deadline to apply for scholarships for youth and young adults to attend General Assembly this June in Minneapolis. The UUA will pay the GA registration fee and up to $500 of other expenses for applicants who can demonstrate need.

Find out more here or by emailing youth@uua.org, youngadults@uua.org, or calling 617-948-4350.

Registration and housing reservations open this Monday, March 1, for General Assembly 2010, which will be June 23–27 in Minneapolis. Registration is $310 for adults. Youth, retired ministers, and aspirant and candidate ministers pay $185. Find complete information here.

More information is on the GA blog, including details about GA events and logistics. There is also an email list, UUA-GA, for information and questions about GA, and an audio podcast. This year you can also follow GA on Twitter as well as Facebook.

This year most business sessions, also known as plenaries, are on the weekend to make it easier for delegates to participate. All GA workshops, around 190, will be on Thursday and Friday. More information on that is here.

UUA President the Rev. Peter Morales will lead the worship service on Sunday morning, and the Rev. Paige Getty of the UU Congregation of Columbia, Md., will lead the Service of the Living Tradition on Thursday. Other speakers this year will include Native American activist and two-time vice presidential candidate for the Green Party Winona LaDuke, presenting the Ware Lecture. UU songwriter Peter Mayer will be part of the opening ceremony.

The Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich, senior minister of All Souls Church UU in New York City, will follow up last year’s popular UU University program track, Theology for a Secular Age, with a new, eight-part workshop series entitled The Necessity of Virtue. There will be no UU University this year.

The GA service project will be helping residents of Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood, less than a mile from the convention center, with landscaping, painting, installing walkways, and similar projects. GA participants will be invited to sign up for blocks of time during GA.

In a separate project, local UU congregations will begin building a Habitat for Humanity house in the Twin Cities in June through a UU Service Committee JustWorks camp.  GA participants are invited to come a week early to help with that. Go to the UUSC JustWorks website for details later this winter. There will probably not be opportunities for GA attendees to work on this house the week of GA. Funds will be solicited for both the service project and the Habitat house.